[Sixth Day Morning on Longevity Island]
Is this the end?
In the strange jungle at the center of the island, Liu Ma lay on the ground like a pile of mud, his tactical suit soaked with sweat on his back.
He looked at the mutated great ape right in front of him and closed his eyes in despair.
Instantly, his world seemed to fall completely silent. All he could hear was the ape's heavy breathing and the weird rustling of the creeping vines.
But the anticipated sharp pain did not descend upon him. A pale blue ice wall suddenly stood between him and the great ape. The sharp ice spikes covering the wall met the monster's downward biting motion, instantly mangling its tongue.
Dark green blood flowed from the bifurcated vine-like tongue, dripping down the ice spikes onto the fallen leaves on the ground, creating a faint white smoke while emitting a strange sizzle.
"!!!"
Sensing the commotion outside, Liu Ma suddenly opened his eyes.
He saw Isabella half-kneeling, her pale blue hair stuck to her pale cheeks with sweat. Several strands clung to the corner of her lips, trembling slightly with her ragged breathing.
Her right hand was pressed firmly to the ground, and the pale blue Star Energy flowed like water along her fingertips, pouring into the ice wall in front of her.
The temperature of the ice wall was so low that even Isabella's exposed forearm was coated in a thin layer of frost, clearly a skill forcefully activated by overdrawing her Star Energy.
"Don't just stare, get up!"
Seeing that Liu Ma hadn't reacted, Isabella immediately shouted a reminder.
Her voice was trembling, not from fear, but from the excessive depletion of her Star Energy.
Meanwhile, the ice wall was covered in spiderweb-like cracks from the great ape's continuous impacts, and the central ice spikes had even begun to break apart.
A moment later, the ice wall crashed, completely shattering. The shards of ice splashed onto Liu Ma's face, jolting him awake.
Without the protection of the barrier, Liu Ma and Isabella were completely exposed to the great ape's fangs.
The monster's crimson eyes glared fixedly at the two of them, a menacing growl rumbling in its throat.
In the nick of time, three sounds of air being sliced suddenly rang out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Chen Kong's customized Void-Pattern enhanced bullets ripped through the air, arriving just in time.
The bullet bodies were wrapped in milky-white spiraling airflow, moving so fast that they only left three afterimages.
And these three bullets were not only incredibly fast but also had accuracy far beyond ordinary imagination.
The three bullets hit the purple rose at the center of the mutated great ape's brow one after another, without any deviation.
This purple rose was none other than the life core unique to the mutated creatures of Longevity Island.
Although the bullets destroyed the petals of the purple rose, causing a large amount of green sap to splatter everywhere, the unique, vigorous vitality of Longevity Island's creatures meant that Chen Kong's triple shot, while impressive, still failed to completely shatter the mutated great ape's life core, only blasting a few noticeable cracks.
Fortunately, Chen Kong's three shots were not without result.
Under the sudden attack, the mutated great ape roared in pain and actually took half a step back, buying the others a precious second.
And in that one-second gap, Mi Yao's handheld console screen suddenly burst with dazzling green light.
Immediately after, dozens of wrist-thick green pixel chains shot out of thin air.
Like living snakes, they accurately wrapped around the mutated great ape's four limbs, briefly restricting its movement.
Simultaneously, Vivian's fine needle rapier, the Second Hand, transformed into a silver streak, accurately plunging into the joint gap of the great ape's elbow.
That spot had no vine protection, only dark purple muscles.
The tip of the sword sank into the mutated great ape's knee, instantly splashing a few drops of dark green blood.
Although this strike was not fatal, it made the mutated great ape stagger, almost falling onto one knee.
A good opportunity!
Seeing this hard-won, precious moment, Liu Ma gritted his teeth and propped himself up. He was clenching his jaw so hard that he could taste blood.
In the next second, the light of goldenization spread from his chest to his entire body again. His skin first glowed with a pale golden sheen, then gradually solidified.
Next, his muscles swelled frantically. His short-sleeved shirt and tactical pants were stretched taut, and the seams made a hissing sound, as if they would tear at any moment.
But Liu Ma didn't care about any of this. He concentrated all his remaining Star Energy into his right fist, even forcibly activating the phantom of his Star Source: Nether War Horse.
He instantly transformed into a chimeric being, half-man and half-horse.
Bang!
Liu Ma's fist, carrying a searing golden light, slammed into the great ape's chest like a cannonball.
The vines there were still slowly regenerating, with tiny sprouts just emerging—one of its two most vulnerable spots.
"Roar!"
Hit by the punch, the great ape instantly let out a piercing howl. The vines on its chest were instantly pulverized, and dark green blood mixed with shattered bone and dark red flesh splattered everywhere.
A few pieces of torn flesh even hit Liu Ma's skin, eventually sliding down to the ground.
The power of this punch was evident.
Under such a heavy blow, even with the mutated great ape's astonishing vitality, it was still "severely injured."
The life core on its brow quickly dimmed, its light fading from the originally dazzling emerald green to a moribund grayish-green.
Its body started shaking uncontrollably on the spot, as if it had epilepsy.
Is this the end?
Looking at the mutated great ape, which seemed to be having a seizure, Liu Ma's vision blurred. The light of goldenization already showed signs of fading. He could feel that his muscle fibers had been strained in the previous burst, and every movement caused excruciating pain.
But this excitement lasted less than two seconds before an anomaly appeared.
"Roar!"
Perhaps completely enraged by Liu Ma and the others, or sensing the danger emanating from the five people.
The mutated great ape suddenly stopped convulsing and let out a roar that hurt people's ears. The purple flower core on its brow actually erupted with dazzling green light, more intense than at any time before.
Then, its body swelled at a visible rate. Its already ox-like size immediately grew larger, and muscles bulged beneath its skin, causing the vines covering its body to snap with a crackle.
Looking at the strangely-behaving mutated great ape, Vivian's mechanical pupils instantly lit up, and a torrent of data furiously refreshed on her retina.
Then, she touched the ground with the fine needle rapier and synchronized her analysis results to everyone's minds.
'Be careful, the flow rate of its life energy is three times faster than before. It's likely preparing to burn its life energy and self-detonate!'
After transmitting the crucial information, Vivian immediately grabbed the exhausted Liu Ma and retreated at light speed. The joints of her mechanical arm made continuous click-click sounds, warning of mechanical overload during the drag.
In the next second, the great ape's body expanded faster. Countless cracks appeared on its skin, and green energy surged out from the cracks, splashing onto the surrounding vine monkeys like a fountain.
A large amount of green energy burst out from the fissures, shining on the surrounding vine monkeys.
Bathed in this green light, the vine monkeys, as if summoned, scurried out densely from trees and bushes. They suddenly rushed towards the five people like mad, forming a "vine wall" by piling their bodies on top of each other.
Undoubtedly, they were trying to use this method to completely trap Chen Kong and the others there, preventing them from escaping the mutated great ape's blast radius.
"No, we must resolve them quickly and open a passage."
Understanding the danger of the situation, Chen Kong raised his gun and fired a continuous volley without hesitation.
In an instant, the custom Void-Pattern bullets penetrated the purple flowers at the brows of the three foremost vine monkeys.
Their bodies stiffened immediately and they fell softly to the ground.
However, although these vine monkeys died, as more vine monkeys scurried down from the trees, their corpses were quickly engulfed in the center of the vine wall, having no impact.
And as the "thickness" of the vine wall increased, the flesh regeneration speed of the outermost vine monkeys actually began to double.
Even if the outermost monsters had their arms broken, new sprouts could grow from the wounds within two seconds.
As a result, Chen Kong's bullets quickly could only create fleeting holes in the vine wall, unable to cause any substantial damage to it.
Fortunately, Chen Kong wasn't the only one attacking.
After a period of adjustment, Isabella strongly supported herself and stood up.
She raised her hand to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, her chest rising and falling violently from her rapid breathing.
Then, a large amount of pale blue Star Energy began to condense in her palm.
Although Isabella's Star Energy consumption was excessive from the previous battle, causing the ice blade she conjured now to be only half its previous length, with its edges constantly melting.
Yet, even this ice blade could accurately cleave the core of the small monkeys.
Almost simultaneously with Isabella's strike, Vivian and Mi Yao also made their moves.
As a result, only Liu Ma, who was exhausted from excessive consumption, lay slumped on the ground among the group of five, supporting his companions with his "gaze."
Ten seconds later...
"It's not working. There are too many of these guys. We don't have enough time."
Looking at the vine wall, which the four of them had only managed to destroy two-thirds of its thickness with concerted effort, Mi Yao stated his judgment with a serious expression.
Although given a little more time, they could completely break through the annoying vine wall in front of them.
But time was precisely what they lacked at this moment.
Without any hesitation, after confirming that the intention to distance themselves from the "explosion" had failed, Mi Yao immediately changed his plan.
His fingers rapidly manipulated the handheld console, and then a large number of green pixel blocks appeared out of thin air, forming a giant pixel cage.
The pixel cage appeared above the mutated great ape's head and slammed down heavily.
Boom!
Inside the cage, the mutated great ape's body continued to swell, quickly reaching the limit of what the pixel cage could withstand.
The bars began to visibly deform, clearly unable to hold up much longer.
"Chen Kong, use your Void Weaver to disrupt its core. Your Void-Pattern can suppress their life energy flow to some extent."
"Its self-detonation requires core guidance. You can stop it by interrupting the energy flow!"
Vivian suddenly shouted. Her mechanical arm transformed into an energy cannon, firing a pale blue beam towards the great ape's brow core.
Upon hearing this, Chen Kong immediately understood.
He took a deep breath, then injected all his remaining Star Energy into the Void Weaver, aiming the muzzle at the great ape's core.
Bang!
Void-Pattern: Spiral Soul-Piercing Bullet!
The specialized Void bullet shot out of the muzzle, carrying spiraling airflow, and accurately hit the purple flower core at the mutated great ape's brow.
"Roar!"
Chen Kong's strike made the mutated great ape scream again.
If the previous screams were mostly out of anger, this time... it was pain.
Because Chen Kong's "Spiral Soul-Piercing" completely disrupted the flow of life force within its body.
And this situation, for the ape that was accumulating energy, was like knocking over dominoes, instantly causing a chain reaction within the mutated great ape.
Seeing the painful appearance of the mutated great ape, Chen Kong showed a delighted expression.
Is it finally over?
Before Chen Kong could be happy for long, Mi Yao suddenly shouted, "Everyone, get behind me!"
As if in response to Mi Yao's words, another abnormality occurred in the mutated great ape, which was trapped in the pixel cage not far away.
Although its body had stopped expanding, countless cracks suddenly appeared all over it.
Countless purple lights were released from these cracks.
Without hesitation, Mi Yao stepped forward, his handheld console suddenly transforming into a giant "riot shield."
The shield came from a shooting game Mi Yao played. Its characteristic was the ability to be immune to "physical attacks" below a certain value and reduce a portion of "energy damage."
Explosion was a type of energy damage.
[Star Source: Arcade Master]
[Materialized Game Item: Azure Commando's Riot Shield]
[Effect 1 · Physical Defense: Immune to physical attacks below Tier 3, and for attacks exceeding Tier 3, it reduces the physical value by a fixed amount of Tier 3]
[Effect 2 · Energy Counteraction: Reduces 50% of energy damage]
[Comment: 'This time... I will protect everyone.']
Boom!
Shortly after Mi Yao erected the giant riot shield, a terrifying explosion of energy was released from within the mutated great ape.
The horrifying impact first destroyed the pixel cage Mi Yao had summoned, and the remaining blast impact fully fell onto the giant riot shield.
Bang!
Mi Yao held the riot shield with both hands. Under the heavy pressure of the explosion, the part of his legs below the calves was completely submerged in the earth.
At the same time, he and Chen Kong and the others hiding behind him were driven back by the powerful explosion shockwave for a good fifty to sixty meters before finally stopping.
The aftermath of the explosion dissipated, and Chen Kong and the others looked ahead.
They saw that the location where the mutated great ape had been was now a crater with a diameter exceeding fifty meters and a depth of over twenty meters.
"Is it over?"
Chen Kong looked at the crater created by the explosion with lingering fear and asked.
"Probably."
Vivian's mechanical pupils scanned the crater continuously, giving a cautious answer.
Although a unique life signature of the mutated great ape still existed in the crater.
And this life signature was still growing stronger.
However, neither the speed of its growth nor the energy fluctuations released by that life signature could pose even the slightest threat to them anymore.